Carbon Free Boston

In early 2019, the Boston Green Ribbon Commission published the Carbon Free Boston report. The report is meant to serve as a policy framework as the city pursues its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.

Amlan Saha, Senior Vice President at M.J. Bradley & Associates, served on the Technical Advisory Group for Energy, helping to think through strategies to reduce Boston’s overall energy consumption and put the city on the pathway to carbon neutrality in buildings, transportation, and waste management by 2050. In particular, Amlan reviewed and provided advice on New England’s electricity grid-related assumptions in the model to reduce CO2 emissions from electric power and other energy systems in Boston. One of the tools that informed his inputs to the process was the MJB&A STEP Tool.

The Carbon Free Boston report considered a number of strategies to reduce emissions from electricity supply including increasing residential and commercial on-site solar-PV, expanding existing district energy systems, procuring renewable electricity to offset remaining natural gas use through renewable energy credits, local power purchase agreements (PPA), and virtual PPAs. The report also considered ways to reduce emissions from the city’s liquid fuel use, including the feasibility of biofuels, renewable natural gas, biomass, and hydrogen from renewable energy.

The Carbon Free Boston report outlines a plan for creating a sustainable, resilient, and equitable Boston as the city pursues its ambitious carbon neutrality goals.